Searching for planetary companions to ultracool dwarfs: Planet hunting in the near infrared

Abstract

Owing to their small masses and radii, Ultracool Dwarfs (UCDs; late-M, L, and T dwarfs) may be excellent targets for planet searches and may afford astronomers the opportunity to detect terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. The precise measurements necessary to detect extrasolar planets orbiting UCDs represent a major challenge. We describe two efforts to obtain precise measurements of UCDs in the Near Infrared (NIR). The first involves the robotic NIR observatory PAIRITEL and efforts to obtain photometric precision sufficient for the detection of terrestrial planets transiting UCDs. The second effort involves precise radial velocity measurements of UCDs in the NIR and a survey undertaken with the NIRSPEC spectrograph on Keck. © 2009 International Astronomical Union.